


Friendly Reminder

by RuGrimm



Series: The Calamity Chronicles [2]
Category: Wizard101
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Lost Love, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 11:06:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14851574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RuGrimm/pseuds/RuGrimm
Summary: In the aftermath of losing his fiance, Valerian is left to rot from the inside out as he grieves over his loss. However, he's quickly reminded that he isn't alone in the word. Friendship can be a powerful/beautiful thing...or just a needed kick in the ***...either way.  **Warning for strong language**





	Friendly Reminder

**Author's Note:**

> This work is tied to the main Woeful Calamity series. However, you don't need to have read Woeful Calamity to understand this. Friendly Reminder is a prequel to the main events and is only to better understand the events taking place. Enjoy~

Agony...that’s the only word he can use to describe this...this feeling. 

It’s rooted in his chest like a key that’s been broken off in a handle. Stuck deep in a place no one can reach, it’s manifested its way into his life so far that he can’t remember life without it...and when he does, that pain only intensifies. As he lays there in his bed, staring at the bland stone ceiling, every muscle in his body rests as numbly as the rest of what’s left of his sanity. 

The nearby clock ticks on--the only thing moving forward in this room filled with dusty old books and an empty fireplace that lets the cold breeze in without any effort to deny its presence. All around, the grey, dismal walls loom over the motionless body in the unmade bed, and empty bottles litter the floor among papers splattered with salty water stains and dead flower petals that have been there for weeks. 

An aroma of bitter booze lingers, hanging in the dolorous atmosphere like ominous storm clouds on the horizon, and the only occupant in the room breathes as much of it in as he returns. His pale skin is patched with light brown streaks and marks, white hair an oily grey as it clings to his scalp with clumps of dead skin and dirt caught in the tangled mess. Once bright, amethyst eyes are dulled, dark circles like tattoos permanently grafted onto his skin. 

As he lays there in his own filth, time noticed only by the clock, his mind is stuck on repeat like a carousel without an on-and-off switch. Everything circles back to that moment...that dreadful scream in his ears...Oh god...that scream…

The only brightness left in his eyes is the veil of clear film forming as his thoughts come round again, trickling down his temples where a path has worn through the dirt crusted upon his skin. 

There’s no meaning to this madness. He knows it, but he can’t make himself get up. There’s no reason to get up...not if she’s not there on the other side of that door, waiting for him to get his sleepy head out of the room so she can kiss him good morning. 

What the hell...what the hell is he supposed to do now? 

She’s...gone...forever.

And...it’s...all his...damn...fucking...god...oh Bartelby…

He chokes on his own tears, the only sound he’s made in hours coming out as a straggled cough and forced, sharp breaths as the tears roll down his face in succession, one after the other. 

She’s there...in his arms...so beautiful even as the crimson paints her lifeless body, and he hates himself for thinking that, but it’s the only image that can come to his mind. Green hair, tangled and matted with pieces of flesh that at one time must have belonged to the enemies that had stood in their path...Red splattered across her face like someone had walked up and flicked paint from their brush just seconds before...And then...there’s that hole...a hole mirroring the one in his heart there where the rest of her torso should have been...limbs just barely attached to one another as those emerald eyes look lifelessly past where he had knelt. 

It’s a scene that’s only supposed to happen in horror stories, but it’s there...It happened...and...it shouldn’t be real, but it is because life is a god damn tragedy. And it hates him, and he hates it as much as he could hate anything in the world, but he’s too afraid to do anything because he’s a coward and he knows it. 

He knows she’ll be mad at him, but what else is he supposed to do? What meaning is there in this world where nothing good ever happens to the people who deserve it? What sick god wrote this tragedy? 

Sitting up, his hand flies to his matted hair as his lips part to let out a scream...a scream of a dying animal, and he feels like one...a sick...worthless beast that doesn’t even deserve to be hunted. A string of saliva connects his widely parted lips before it breaks, dribbling down his chin with the tears as guttural wails break the air broken only by the sharp inhales necessary to breathe and form the next dreadful sound. 

He was supposed to protect her! Quivering lips are obscured by the hands that clutch his twisted, grief-stricken face as he rocks back and forth on his alcohol-stained mattress. 

“ **FUCK**! God!---oh god...no...no...oh...Lil….Lily….oh god...I’m...I’m...so...sor…uh!” 

His body lurches with grief and the remnants of his agony the night before. Scrambling to the side of his bed, his whole body spasms as only a few drops of bile dribble from his lips, but nothing more. Ribs and stomach burning, begging for something other than this venom he poisons himself with every hour upon the hour, he heaves nothing but his sorrows. 

Strength giving out, he lies limp with his head dangling from the side of the bed, and he stares blankly at the ripped notes on the floor. Even now he can recognize that beautiful cursive script. How anyone could learn how to read and write so beautifully in such a short amount of time was always a miracle to him...yet another reason he’d fallen so in love with someone so utterly talented. He was supposed to protect her...and in the end...she protected him…

What kind of sick joke was that? 

Why...did fate..think that was so...funny? 

Life was supposed to go back to normal...he had wanted nothing more than to see her in a gown of white, but what he got instead was a corpse in a gown of red. 

His fingertips are tingling now, mouth burning from that tiny amount of bile and eyes sore from the lack of water left to moisten them. He can’t move anymore...and he doesn’t want to...If he could just...just die...it would save him….so much...trouble…

Gaze focusing on a nearby broken bottle, his mind wanders...imagining what it would feel like...if those pointed ends were to sink into his flesh, adding to array of scars he already owns. What would it feel like to drain his own life away...to experience what Scarlet experiences as a Death witch during every battle? Would it really...be so bad...to fade away into non existence?

A timid knock on the door garners only a glance toward the wooden surface, but he doesn’t even make the effort to welcome his guest or move to look more presentable. He only watches as a familiar blonde opens the door and cringes at what he assumes to be either the smell or the sight...probably both. 

“H-hey…” is all Cody can manage, not bothering to close the door behind him as he steps over a broken bottle. “You...okay, Val?”

Valerian doesn’t move, looking away back to the notes on the floor. He doesn’t know what to say to the Myth wizard, and he can almost feel the pity in the other’s tone. 

“Well...um…” the blonde hesitates at the foot of the bed, torn between lifting the other back into position or trying to get him downstairs. With a sigh, he lifts his hand to scratch at his smoothly shaven jawline standing in sharp contrast to the other wizard’s stubble. “Valerian...you can’t...You’ve got to…”

“Got to what?” mutters Valerian, his eyes narrowing sharply as he glares at the other out of the corner of his reddened eyes. “Don’t you tell me what the hell to do. You don’t know...you don’t…” 

Against his will, he can feel his lips start to quiver again, and he manages to push himself to sit up and reach for the half-empty bottle on his nightstand. Grasping the neck, he presses it to his lips as if he’s finally found water after a long trek through the desert. 

“Valerian, don’t-”

“SHUT UP!” 

The bottle in Storm wizard’s hand flies across the room, and Cody ducks as it shatters against the stone wall and the amber contents trickle down the smooth surface. He winces, staring at the broken glass he narrowly avoided before looking back at his sniffling companion. “Valerian...I…This needs to stop…It’s...been three months…”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Valerian hisses, glaring at the knees pulled up to his bared chest. Even from where he stands, Cody can make out every bone in his sternum and rib cage. 

“Dude...this...this is insane,” he chokes, shaking his head as he can feel his own tears starting to form. “I can’t watch you do this to yourself anymore.”

A silence looms over the two of them, weighing down on them as they lose themselves in thought. Yet the clock still ticks on, sparing time for no man. 

“Valerian...please...don’t...do...Just stop...okay? Just stop,” Cody finally manages, shaking his head as he takes a step forward again toward the bed. “I get it. You loved her. She was my friend too, Val. Yeah, it fu-freakin’ hurts, but she wouldn’t want this from us. She wouldn’t want any of this! This is INSANE!!!”

Valerian winces at the other’s sharp volume, head ringing rom the consequences of his self-loathing. Loved her? That was an understatement. To him, it was so much more than that. 

Why can’t anyone understand that? 

It’s not just something you can let go of! He knows this is wrong, but there’s this void in his life that he can’t work around. It’s a black hole of despair, and he’s too weak to push against the gravity of it all. 

Life sucks, and it would be better if it just ended here.

“I can’t...You’re right…” he manages, choking up as he stares at one of the many stains in the mattress. “I can’t do this anymore…”

Cody relaxes, letting out a deep sigh as his shoulders slump, and he manages a small smile. “There ya go. That’s the spirit, ma-”

” _Kill me…_ ”

“WHAT?”

Glancing up to the horrified expression on his best friend’s face, his own countenance manages a distorted smirk. “Kill me...please...end this nightmare…”

“Holy sh...oh my-….Valerian, this isn’t funny. Stop messing around, man.” The blonde swallows, eyes wide in disbelief from the words that have just fallen from the other’s mouth. “Knock it off.”

“What do you mean...knock it off?” His voice is monotone and bland, lacking in the emotion evident on his face and in his surroundings. “I mean it...What else is there for me?”

Shaking his head, Cody stands there as stiff as a dead rabbit in the coldest night of winter, eyes wide and teary. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

“V-Valerian...Stop it right now. You have people that care about you; I care about you. I’m-I’m your best friend. What kind of shitty best friend asks their friend to kill them? Like...what...what the hell, man?” he manages, looking back and forth between the other’s eyes. 

“It wouldn’t be that hard…” the white haired wizard whispers, resting his gaze on the rapier attached to the other’s belt. “I wouldn’t even fight back…”

“CUT IT OUT!” Cody’s arm slashes through the air in front of him, and he marches forward toward the bed, grabbing a fistful of the other’s hair as he turns Valerian’s head to meet his gaze. “Look, crybaby, I’ve had enough of your whining! You’re an awful friend, you know that?! And that’s a lot coming from me! I didn’t think anybody could get lower than me, and I was pretty freaking proud of that title! Pull yourself together! You look like you were stabbed in the eyes with a god damn lemon!”

Flinching, Valerian cringes as spit flies off the lips of the other in close proximity. He doesn’t fight back, however. His arms don’t move as he wants them to, only sagging down at his sides as he regards his friend with nothing but his own self-pity. Then again, at the final words from his friend, a small smirk forms of its own accord. He can’t help it. There’s just something about it that brings back a feeling he hasn’t felt in months. 

“Oh, do you think this is funny?!” Taking the look on the Storm wizard’s face the wrong way, Cody grits his teeth as he pulls his fist back and full on plows his fist into the other’s shocked expression. 

Valerian reels backward with a sharp cry, falling onto his back before rolling on his side and holding a hand to his newly busted nose. The metallic smell and taste of blood overcome his senses, and he looks over to the fuming blonde beside his bed. It’s a surprise he didn’t know he needed. 

“Look, Mr. ‘Savior of the Spiral,’ I didn’t come up here to hold your sorry little hand! A real friend doesn’t just stand by your every decision and whim. That’s a sidekick, and I’m too damned awesome to be a sidekick! A real friend kicks ya in the arse and tells ya how it is. Well, you’re being a right pain, and you need to get yourself together because I am sick and tired of your Raging Bull!” he snaps, teeth gritted as he spares no quarter toward the white haired wizard. “You need to fucking knock it off! Because...because…”

Chest heaving, the blonde hiccups as tears begin to spill, falling like autumn leaves. He sniffs, face contorted in half grief and half anger as he tries to fight his rare show of pain. “L-look...I am sick and tired of this fucking bullshit...You...You are the best friend...I have...ever had...and I can’t...watch you do this to your-yourself anymore…” Licking his parched lips, he grits his teeth, squeezes his eyes shut, and turns away his head as his hands ball into fists at his trembling sides. “Stop saying...that you’re hurt...I am too...every day...when I have to come in here...and take care of your stupid ass! But hey...that’s-that’s what friends do. Mariah, Scarlet, Angel...they all gave up on you...said you needed some time alone...but I won’t. I won’t sit by and watch this anymore. I WON’T give up! Not on your life...I won’t...I have been...every day...picking up the pieces of someone named Valerian Le-Legendmancer...the bravest...strongest...fucking c-coolest dude I know...And I don’t know...where the hell he went...but you need to find him...You need to find his balls and shove...shove them right up...your-your goddamn scrotum...Cause it’s not gonna get better unless you want it to...Got that, Sparky?” 

Valerian opens his eyes to see the red-faced, tear-stained countenance of the blonde, watching as Cody rubs his snot on his sleeve and glares at him with a electrifying passion he himself has lacked in a very long time. As the words falls upon his ears, something inside him stirs...and for a moment, he thinks it might be the remnants of whatever alcohol is left in his system, but when he finds it hard to swallow...he knows that it isn’t the case. 

He knows the myth wizard is right...Every word of it is true, and with every word spoken, the guilt inside grows exponentially. If his soul was a chasm, Cody was the earthquake needed to push him together. 

“Well?” Cody presses, throwing his hands up in the air in a rare show of annoyance. “Do ya?!”

Nodding slowly, Valerian winces. His head is throbbing from the pain of his newfound injury, and he holds his hand over his busted nose. Truthfully, the storm wizard would have cried if it hadn’t been for the fact that he had no more tears to shed. 

“You’re right…” he whispers, managing a small smile that provides just the tiniest amount of relief in the other. 

With a sigh, the myth wizard rubs his right with his fingertips and sniffs. A faint chuckle breaks the dismal atmosphere, and Cody’s shoulders bounce slightly in his muffled mirth. “Damn...I’ve never heard that one be-before...heh...Say that a bit louder, would ya?”

Valerian too can’t help himself to a tiny titter, one brow raising as the blood wells and drips between his fingers. “Not a chance…Mind fixin my nose...This stings like that time tried...to do Storm magic...and you miscasted that thunder snake…heh…”

The myth wizard’s smirk grows, and he opens the tiny pouch on his belt to pull out a small potion bottle filled with a mysterious purple liquid. Handing it to the white haired man, he speaks. “Fair enough...Was gonna make you drink this anyway.”

“Thanks, _mom_ ,” he mutters, and he pops off the cork before shakily tipping his head back and consuming the contents. 

As he watches Valerian drink the purple substance, Cody shrugs and casts a playful wink. “You’re welcome, _son_.”

As the storm wizard sets the empty bottle aside, the two break out into light-hearted laughter...something neither had experienced since the incident. It’s not over the top...let alone long or drawn out...but in their quiet, reserved laughter, there’s an unspoken gratitude...and the crimson shadows that haunted them were silenced...even if only for the time being. It’s as if a weight has been lifted, and the pain that Valerian had felt numbed. Whether or not it was a physical pain or emotion, he didn’t care...He wanted only to revel in this feeling...a feeling he thought he’d never feel again. 

How stupid he was...to forget that there was more than just Lily…

Yes, he had loved her...but he loved more than just her. 

Even if she was his world, there are still stars in the sky.

“Hey…” Cody murmured when they quieted down, hands in his pockets and dirty blonde bangs hanging over his eyes. “I’m sorry...if I upset you...I just...had to say it, y’know?”

Sitting back with his hands pressed flat against the bed to hold himself steady and letting the potion renew a strength he hasn’t felt in ages, Valerian nods. “Yeah...I get it…” He pauses momentarily, scarred chest rising and falling with a soft sigh. And then, under his breath, he lets out the faintest whisper as his gaze rests upon that dreary ceiling. 

“ _Thank you…_ ”

Making a slight motion to the left with his head, Cody shrugs it off. “It’s nothing. You’d do the same for me, dude.”

“Eh,” Valerian begins with his signature smirk, a playful glint in his amethyst eyes. “I would if you’d ever stop forgetting the name of the chick you’re currently screwing.”

_ ”HEY!” _   


Striding over to the side of the bed, the blonde punches the storm wizard in the shoulder with a grouchy pout. “That happened  _one_ time!”   
“Ow!” he hisses, holding his shoulder with a wince. “Easy! Me thinks thou protest too much!” 

Cody snorts, rubbing his knuckles against the top of the hero’s heard (effectively giving him a noogie) as Valerian struggles to break free. “Take that back, Mr. The-World-Is-Practically-Over-Already!”

“H-hey! Let me go, you player!” protests Valerian, trying to wiggle free of the other’s grasp.

“ _PLAYER?!_ Now you’re really asking for it!!!!” 

Cody lets the white-haired man go, letting him roll backward on the mattress just as the myth wizard grabs one of the pillows and proceeds to beat him with it. 

“Hey! Cut it-mmph!-out!” Valerian cries, but the blonde is already standing on the bed, swinging the white pillow over his head and down upon squirming wizard with a repeating, resounding ‘thump!’.  “No-oooo~ Hahahaha~!”

Feathers fly in all directions, dancing in the air like the millions of snowflakes pirouetting towards the earth outside the window...They’re fleeting in action, quickly falling out of sight and each one losing its independence as it joins the hills of white below...but the memory it creates is something that Valerian knows he will never forget...Because when he sees that snow...he remembers that snowfall on Christmas Eve...the flakes tangled in green hair as asks the question he knows he could never ask anyone else--past or present... It was the beginning of a new hope for him...and yet again, he finds that hope in the flurry of ivory…

As the last feathers lay settled upon the messy floor, the two boys sit with their backs to a nearby wall, shoulders a few inches apart as they sit in a solemn silence that stands in sharp contrast to their earlier mirth. Resting his head back against the stone, Valerian closes his eyes and brings one knee up while allowing the other to lay stretched out toward the bed. He imagines what he’d be doing now if she was still here...They’d probably be on their honeymoon...maybe settling down here in the castle he bought for her...planning a family…

“Hey…” Cody murmurs, turning his head to look at the relaxing wizard. “I meant what I said...Really...This crap has got to stop...but...I know it’s hard...If ya...wanna talk or somethin’...I’m always here…”

Nodding, he cracks his eyes open and glances toward the concerned blonde. “I hear you… It’s just...gonna take some time...to get used to...to…”

As the other’s voice cracks, Cody nods, cutting him off before he has to speak anymore. “Yeah...I gotcha…But...seriously, man...Whatever you need, I’ll do...I’d cut off my left pinky toe for you.”

Rolling his eyes, Valerian snorts as his eyes close again and he shakes his head. “Tssk, you already did that.”

“Well then I’ll cut off the right one!” exclaims the blonde, laughing as he kicks the other’s foot lightly with his boot. 

As Cody’s laughter dies, the two sit in silence for several more moments, listening as the clock ticks on as it always has…

“Hey Cody…” Valerian begins, turning his head toward the other and their gazes meeting. 

“Yeah?”

“Seriously...thank you...I needed that...back there…” he begins, glancing away momentarily. 

Shrugging, the myth wizard raises his right hand in a fist and holds it out toward the storm master. “That’s what friends do. Think of it as a friendly reminder.”

Bumping the other’s knuckles with his own, Valerian then grabs his hand, pulling him into a tight embrace. “No...You’re not just a friend. Thank you...Brother…”

Returning the tight embrace, Cody pats the other hard on the back, eyes shut tightly as he nods. “Please...don’t ever do this again. Even if I’m not here to kick your ass…”

“I promise,” swears the white haired wizard, nodding back quickly as his fingers clutch at the back of Cody’s shirt. 

“And by Bartelby, don’t tell anyone that I cried. You’ll ruin my reputation with the ladies.”

“Oh, I’m telling.”

“VALERIAN!”

“Yes, mom?”

“I love you, son…”

 


End file.
